Ogier triumphs in gruelling Greek epic
Sébastien Ogier triumphed for Toyota Gazoo Racing World Rally Team (TGR-WRT) on a decisive final day of the Acropolis Rally in Greece on Sunday (28 June).
The legendary rally lived up to its reputation this year with temperatures above 30°C combining with rough and rocky roads to test tyres, cars and drivers alike. TGR-WRT faced a challenging start with their five drivers starting in the first five places, courtesy of their leading championship positions. This meant they had to sweep an early line through the loose gravel which their rivals would follow.
Nine-time World Champion Ogier had the best starting position in the team in fifth on the road and he made the most of it to finish Friday’s opening day within 10 seconds of the lead. By the close on Saturday, he had narrowed the gap to leader Thierry Neuville (Hyundai) to just 4.1 seconds.
Ogier seized the rally lead with the fastest time in Sunday’s opening stage, before he and Neuville then shared the best time in the following test. The penultimate stage proved decisive, with another strong stage win from Ogier combined with tyre damage for Neuville creating a gap of 54.8 seconds ahead of the rally-ending Power Stage.
There, Ogier and co-driver Vincent Landais were fastest once more as they secured victory by 58.3 seconds, and a maximum score of 35 points through topping the Power Stage and Super Sunday classifications. The victory is the 69th of Ogier’s career and his second Acropolis win, 15 years after his first.
Takamoto Katsuta and Aaron Johnston secured a double podium finish for the team in third overall after a strong and consistent performance. Running second on the road on Friday, he avoided major trouble while also showing good pace as he climbed up from ninth on the leaderboard.
After the rally’s conclusion, Josh McErlean (Ford) and Adrien Fourmaux (Hyundai) were both given one-minute penalties. As a result, Sami Pajari and Marko Salminen, who were initially classified fifth overall, were placed fourth. They had made a strong recovery from 15th after stopping to change a wheel and tyre on Friday afternoon. They also took second in the Power Stage and Super Sunday.
Likewise, Elfyn Evans and Scott Martin moved up the order to fifth. They faced the toughest conditions opening the road on Friday as championship leaders, but were also fighting back well and closing on fourth overall until a tyre change in Saturday’s last stage. Evans’s hopes of recovering points on Sunday were hampered by a slow loss of tyre pressure in the morning’s opener, but with fifth overall and fifth in the Power Stage he remains championship leader, eleven points ahead of Katsuta and 37 ahead of Ogier. TGR-WRT continue to lead the manufacturers’ standings, increasing their lead to 146 points.
Oliver Solberg retired from Friday’s final stage when he ran wide and got stuck on the edge of the road, but restarted on Saturday and took one point for fifth in Super Sunday.
TGR WRC Challenge Program driver Yuki Yamamoto demonstrated strong pace in the competitive WRC2 category, setting several top five stage times throughout the weekend, and culminating in a maiden Power Stage victory, even though time lost to punctures meant he finished 10th in the class. Fellow GR Yaris Rally2 drivers Alejandro Cachón, Roope Korhonen and Diego Domínguez finished third, fourth and fifth in class respectively.
Team quotes
Juha Kankkunen (Deputy Team Principal): “It means a lot to win this rally. We have been quite unlucky in Greece over recent years but this time the luck was on our side with the damage that Neuville picked up in the penultimate stage. It was a good battle until then, but Seb was fantastic once again. He avoided any issues and deserved another win on this event. Taka was also very good and it’s great to see him back on the podium, and Sami drove an excellent final day as well to keep making up places. Elfyn has not been so lucky this time, and it was tough for Oliver too, but I’m sure the next rally will be easier for them.”
Elfyn Evans (driver car 33): “It’s been a tough weekend, in line with what we were expecting beforehand. After a difficult start on Friday, things were moving in the right direction and not looking too bad by Saturday afternoon, but then we got the puncture in the last stage. We tried to give it a good go today, but I touched a bank in the first stage which pushed the tyre off the rim. I’m disappointed with how it’s turned out but that’s the way it goes sometimes and we just have to move on to the next one.”
Sébastien Ogier (driver car 1): “It feels good to win the Acropolis Rally again after many years. It seems like the Greek gods were with me once more! As often the case here, it’s been a very tough rally, particularly for the tyres, so I’m glad that we were able to stay out of trouble. It was very close with Thierry and there was no chance to relax, even in the Power Stage because it was very rough. I tried to drive as gently as I could, so I was surprised by the time, but I’m very happy to take the maximum points, which is exactly what we needed.”
Oliver Solberg (driver car 99): “I think we did the best that we could today. We at least managed to keep Elfyn behind us in the Super Sunday standings to take one point, but I don’t think it was possible to do more from our starting position. It’s been another blow this weekend and I’m very disappointed; it’s been tough lately with these little mistakes. I just need to keep believing and try to reset and find a better way forward, going into some rallies that I know well and am looking forward to.”
Takamoto Katsuta (driver car 18): “It’s very good to finish on the podium after such a tough rally. It was difficult for us in the beginning running second on the road, but we were expecting this and we had a clear plan to try to avoid problems and mistakes and just manage the situation. It worked out very well, so thank you to Aaron and to the team; we had no issues with the car at all. It’s been a good weekend and I’m looking forward to the high-speed rallies coming up.”
Sami Pajari (driver car 5): “It was a proper Super Sunday for us today and I think we need to be really happy about that. The beginning of the rally was very difficult and it was tricky to recover from that, but I think that we got the most out of it that we could. We managed to make up quite a lot of positions and take eight extra points from Sunday, so it’s really not been too bad an event in the end and we’re still in a good position in the championship with some nice rallies to come for us.”
PROVISIONAL FINAL CLASSIFICATION, ACROPOLIS RALLY GREECE
1 Sébastien Ogier/Vincent Landais (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) 3h36m40.7s
2 Thierry Neuville/Martijn Wydaeghe (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +58.3s
3 Takamoto Katsuta/Aaron Johnston (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) +3m04.8s
4 Sami Pajari/Marko Salminen (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) +5m02.2s
5 Elfyn Evans/Scott Martin (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) +5m54.9s
6 Josh McErlean/Eoin Treacy (Ford Puma Rally1) +5m55.5s
7 Adrien Fourmaux/Alexandre Coria (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +6m08.7s
8 Mārtiņš Sesks/Renārs Francis (Ford Puma Rally1) +8m05.8s
9 Robert Virves/Jakko Viilo (Škoda Fabia RS Rally2) +9m50.1s
10 Andreas Mikkelsen/Jørn Listerud (Škoda Fabia RS Rally2) +10m52.5s
16 Oliver Solberg/Elliott Edmondson (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) +15m31.2s
WRC2 class
1 Robert Virves/Jakko Viilo (Škoda Fabia RS Rally2) 3h46m30.8s
2 Andreas Mikkelsen/Jørn Listerud (Škoda Fabia RS Rally2) +1m02.4s
3 Alejandro Cachón/Borja Rozada (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2) +2m03.2s
4 Roope Korhonen/Anssi Viinikka (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2) +2m53.3s
5 Diego Domínguez/Rogelio Peñate (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2) +3m43.1s
6 Léo Rossel/Guillaume Mercoiret (Lancia Ypsilon Rally2 HF Integrale) +4m10.6s
10 Yuki Yamamoto/James Fulton (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2) +7m57.6s
2026 FIA World Rally Championship for drivers after round 8:
1 Elfyn Evans 162points
2 Takamoto Katsuta 151
3 Sébastien Ogier 125
4 Sami Pajari 116
5 Oliver Solberg 103
6 Adrien Fourmaux 95
7 Thierry Neuville 95
8 Hayden Paddon 21
9 Esapekka Lappi 21
10 Yohan Rossel 20
2026 FIA World Rally Championship for manufacturers after round 8:
1 TOYOTA GAZOO Racing World Rally Team 420points
2 Hyundai Shell Mobis World Rally Team 274
3 TOYOTA GAZOO Racing WRT2 129
4 M-Sport Ford World Rally Team 102
What’s next?
Rally Estonia (17-19 July) features fast gravel stages combining wide and narrow sections with a generally soft and sandy surface that can become rutted for the second pass.
ENDS
